Fish-positioning machine.



F WEBER & F. M. ALLEN.

FIS H POSITIONING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED 05c. 16. I915;

Patented June 6, 1916.

UNITED STATES .1

ATENT OFFICE.

FREDERICK c. WEBER, or BETHESDA, MARYLAND, AND FRANK M. ALLEN,= OF

WASHINGTON, ,ms'rmcr or commn'm. l I

- FISH-POSITIONING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 6, 1916.

(DEDICATED TO THE PUBLIC.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, FREoERicn C. \VEnnn and FRANK M. .ALLEJ, citizens of the United States of America, and employees of the Department of Agriculture of the said United States, said FREDERICK O. WEBER residing in the town of Bethesda, State of Maryland, (whose post-office address is Bethesda, Maryland.) and the said FRANK M. ALLEN residing in the city of \Vashington, District of Columbia, (whose post-office address is Washington, District of Columbia,) have invented a new and useful Improvement in Fish-Positioning Machines.

This application is made under the act of March 3, 1883, chapter. 143 (22. Stat, 625), and the invention herein described and claimed may be used by the Government of the United'States or any of its oilicers or employees in the prosecution of work for the United States, or by any person in the United States, without the payment of any royalty thereon.

Our invention relates to a machine adapted to the purpose of. arranging fish 1n position, head first, for any purpose, preferablyfor delivery to a cutting and eviscerating machine.

The object of the invention is to provide a device which, manipulation, will cause fish, when led into it, to leave the device with the heads all pointing in one direction.

The invention consists in the combination and arrangement of parts as specified in the following specification and particularly pointed out in the claims thereof.

Referring to the drawings: Figure 1 is a top plan view of our invention, and Fig. 2 is a side sectional view of the'device.

Fish arranged according to size, which is necessary for the successful operation of our device, are led by a. stream of water in any suitable trough to the positioning device (Fig. 1), which is a large revolving disk 1, rotating in a horizontal plane in the direction of the arrows, upon a vertical axis, 2,

having a bearing, 3, with thrust bearing, 4, This disk, 1, 1S

revolved at suitable speed, depending upon by proper arrangement andv the size of fish to be positioned. The disk,

1, is surrounded by a vertical wall, 6, of any suitable height, and at intervals through this wall are openings, 7, the bottom of these openings, 7, being as indicated at a, in Fig. 2. {it each opening, 7 is a guide, 8, which pro-- JGCtS into the active plane and upon the top of revolving disk, -1, and is inclined from the revolving axis, 2., at a suitable angle to cause any fish upon the disk, 1, topass 0E said djisk through openings, 7, and inthe same manner as they approach the boundary wall,.6, that is-head first. At each of the openings, 7, and attached to wall,'\.6, is a curved spout, 9, which empties into a oircuhr trough, 10. This trough in relation to.

the plane of disk is arranged 'in the form of a spiral of suitable pitch and form, as

- shown at a? in Fig. 2, to carry the fish in the same position in which they leave the revolving disk, 1.'

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire by Letters Patent to secure is: I 1. A machine for positioning fish having, 76 in combination, a surface revolving in ahor izontal plane, a receiving trough and a stationary wall surrounding said surface provided with openings to permit of the delivery of the positioned fish from said surface 80 to the receiving trough, substantially as described. 2. A machine for positioning fish having, in combination, a surface revolving in a hor izontal plane, a stationary wall surrounding said surface provided with openings, and

guides for directing the posip roj ecting v substantially ositioning fish having,

said surface provided with openings, curved spouts leading from said stationary wall, and :1 spirail receiving trough to conduct the. fish u'u-nngu'L in the same position as when they lezn'e th e"--re\'0lving surface, sub;

stuntinlly as described.- Y

In testimony whereof, we have hereunto 

